Endangered and Extinct Animals

Monday, February 20, 2012

Blue Planet prizewinners (the ecological equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize) are saying that we as a world are facing a perfect storm of circumstances that constitute a global emergency.

John Vidal, the environmental editor of The Guardian in the UK, reports that the past 18 winners of the Blue Planet prizewinners are urging governments to take urgent action to avert a collapse of civilisation as we know it, on a global scale.

I had to include this one, although it's aimed at younger persons, because my daughter loves it and I have to admit I really enjoy reading it as well. It covers most basic animal facts and goes into minor scientific detail.

I put this list together based on my personal liking for these blogs, not on site traffic, website design or anything other than plain, simple reporting and facts on endangered animals. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

I would love to hear of any blogs you may know of that are worthy of this list.

The NAFTA Panel has been invoked to investigate Canada's potential violation of Wildlife Law.

The Center for Biological Diversity, an US conservation group, has filed a challenge over Canada's failure in its duty of care towards the protection of polar bears under the Species At Risk Act. The challenge was filed with the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) established Commission for Environmental Cooperation. This commission was created to monitor the signed countries and their compliance with their own environmental law.

Canada chose to give polar bears the status "species of special concern" which gives them no protection, whereas a status of "threatened" or "endangered" would have given polar bears legal protection.

“Canada is willfully ignoring the deep trouble that polar bears are already in and the likely extinction they face without rapid cuts in greenhouse emissions,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, which successfully petitioned and sued to protect polar bears under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. “Time is running out for the world’s polar bears. They deserve real protection.” (quoted from the press release from the Center for Biological Diversity).

Scientists state that, without help, more than two-thirds of all polar bears will be gone by 2050 and the rest could be extinct by the end of the century.

Hopefully the challenge will help Canada to see that polar bears are definitely endangered and should be afforded all the protection legislation can provide. It would be a monumental shame to lose these beautiful animals from the world.

All seven species of the sea turtle are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. David McGuire writes about the unusual voyages being taken by these turtles into temperate waters in Monterey Bay and the Gulf of the Fallarones National Marine Sanctuary waters.

David McGuire presents a fascinating insight into the lives and perils of these endangered sea turtles. He explains why they're endangered, and peppers his article with interesting facts.

The vaquita, more commonly known as the Gulf of California Harbor porpoise, is critically endangered. The use by Mexican fishermen of gillnets is one of the primary concerns in preventing the accidental killing of these beautiful, playful sea mammals. Approximately 150 to 560 of vaquitas exist today, and are predicted to become extinct by 2015 if their critically endangered status is not reversed.

The Mexican government is being petitioned to ban the use of gillnets by fishermen in order to remove one of the worst causes of the harbor porpoise's impending extinction. To read more and sign the petition, visit ForceChange.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Asian elephants, or elephas maximus, live in south east Asian countries and India. Most live in the forests, but some also live on grassland plains and in the mountains.

The Asian elephant is smaller than the African elephant, with much smaller ears and tusks. This is probably because they live mostly in the forest and don’t need large ears to cool themselves with, and large tusks would get in the way among the trees.

Female Asian elephants (called cows) don’t have tusks and are slightly smaller than male elephants (called bulls). A full size Asian elephant bull weighs up to 12 000 pounds, or five and a half tons; and is about 10 feet, or 3 metres tall.

Asian elephants have a high forehead, possibly used to transmit subdural vibrationary sounds. Their ears are said to be shaped like India.. The eyes are a bit bigger than a human’s, and they have good eyesight, being able to see a moving object in daylight at up to 150 feet or 45 metres away.
Asian elephants have been used as a working animal in south east Asia and India for thousands of years.

Are Asian Elephants Endangered?
While elephants are not registered as endangered, because their population dropped so alarmingly quickly due to poaching (populations dropped about 50% between 1979 and 1989 due to poaching, until the ivory trade ban in 1989). Elephant populations only increase by about 6% a year, and only if the population remains undisturbed.

Elephants have no natural predators, however, their habitat is under threat from increased human development, farming and logging. Poachers still operate in some areas and decimate populations very quickly. Half a million elephants have been killed in the past 10 years alone. Ivory from their tusks is worth its weight in gold, unfortunately.

Talks are underway to approach a compromise to prevent poaching. Legal elephant hunters could be limited to killing only male elephants with tusks above a certain size, allowing younger males to service the unharmed females and continue increasing elephant populations. Consideration is also being given to removing restrictions on the ivory trade and allowing villages to farm elephants in order to harvest their tusks.

Farming elephants could also bring the tourist trade to remote villages to boost their financial economy. They could provide elephant spotting tours, and elephant rides into the nearby forests and grasslands, to view the other native wildlife and natural beauty spots.

Put simply, human nature being what it is, we have to give the villagers who dwell in elephant country a reason to value and protect these wonderful beasts of the earth.